WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 38 DORCHESTER SECONDS 18

WEYMOUTH & Portland enjoyed a dream start to their opening home fixture at Monmouth Avenue, overcoming local rivals Dorchester in the first Ridgeway derby of the season.

Joe Gibson touched down twice as well as Andy Bowditch, Bryn Llewellyn, Joel Wilson and Alex Hawkins in a six-try salvo.

Having crossed early thanks to Bowditch, the hosts were pegged back to 5-5 before leading all throughout the afternoon, in a performance which delighted captain Kevin Leatham.

He told Echosport: “We had a dream start with a try in the first five minutes and there was some really good support there from a good home crowd.

“It was a typical Weymouth v Dorchester game really, we cancelled each other’s game plans out and it turned out to be a bit scrappy, but it was a great result for us.

“It was a good team performance and everyone stood up on the day especially the tight-five. In the first couple of scrums they got the better of us but, after that, we held our own.”

Leatham was full of praise for the returning Wilson, the club’s 2012 player of the year. He added: “It was good to see Joel back, he has been away due to work commitments but hopefully he will be back with us a bit more often.

“Alex Hawkins played at full-back and was great but unfortunately we are losing him next week because he goes back to university.”

The result means that the Monmouth Avenue outfit boast a 100 per cent record from their opening two games.